The 'very weird' thing Collin Morikawa is trying this week at the Travelers Championship
Alex Goodlett
Take a look above and what do you see? Collin Morikawa posing after striking an iron shot, right? Well, look closely and you should notice something else. Or, notice, something is missing, that is.
Give up? Take another look . . .
OK, the answer is that he's not wearing a glove. And he usually wears a glove. And if you scroll through a bunch of photos from Thursday's first round at the Travelers Championship, you'll see some in which he's wearing one and some in which he's not. So what gives?
"Look, when it comes down to it, our hands are what makes us such good athletes and such good golfers is that we have so much feel," Morikawa told reporters after. "For some reason when I've taken the glove off this week, it's kind of worked. It's just—problem is it's really hot and it's sweaty."
Morikawa said this has been a "few-day process" and that he's willing to try anything to get better—especially when he feels he's been missing shots left more than normal.
"I only hit a few approach shots with the glove," said Morikawa, who opened with a 67 at TPC River Highlands. "Wedges were gloves, but most of the irons were pretty good. 16 was exactly how I am used to seeing shots. Obviously it doesn't have to be five feet, but just the curvature of the shot is what I was really, really happy to see about that."
Interesting strategy. It should be noted that there are tour pros who don't use gloves, but going back and forth for full shots is pretty unusual. Morikawa says he's never done this before, but that he was experimenting with it on the range earlier in the week and he liked the results. Playing partner Scottie Scheffler noticed as well.
"I've tried to hit without my glove and I'm not any good at it," the World No. 1 said after opening with 62. "You definitely won't see me doing that. I've got sweaty hands so that ain't going to work."
But, so far, so good for Morikawa.
"It's very, very weird," Morikawa added. "Trust me."
Hey, whatever works, right?